That I don't have info on. It never went on sale in the USA I believe, as they wanted the fixes to be done, but the new version started rolling out last month to places where it was already on sale.Reply

I actually just saw it at Fry's for $699 just tonight. I'm guessing it was the new revision (the shipment was from last month) but $699 is a lot to gamble on. I was still horribly tempted to buy it, but was worried since I don't know how to differentiate between the new and the old revision. There's no one at LG you could bug for the information?Reply

I talked to LG and have more information on this now. You can tell from the packaging if it is the new version or not, but I'll have to update the review with an image showing how today. However, if you buy one that isn't Revision 1.25, you can contact LG support and arrange to send it in to have the firmware upgraded as well.Reply

So when are you going to update your review? This is turning into a bit of a joke here, with you raving about a version 1.25 and nobody having the means to verify what version they're actually buying. I have a box standing in front of me. How can I verify whether it's the 'good' version? Without this info, this is a legendary bit of PR by LG, allowing them to sell off all their old stock.Reply

LG needs to know that many find this situation unacceptable and all this doubt is no doubt putting people off buying the monitor. I tried to contact them myself but couldn't seem to find an email address for my country (Japan).

If they were so willing to work with you to iron out the issues product surely you have some way of letting them know that the situation as it stands is probably doing more harm than the 1.09 review.Reply

This is nice but in cases like this the review should be done on a retail unit just to be sure about what is in stores.The pricing is also way high , i imagine the AOC will retail at 500$ and that's still high but at least it's not 700$.I do wish you would have more screenshots (gaming included) and a video wouldn't hurt, the AR is new , would help to see it in action.Reply

I will try to get some screenshots of games if I can, though the site someone linked earlier does provide a good example of showing the differences in aspect ratios. As far as the AOC, it makes no sense to compared the LG against something that isn't released yet. Look at the large difference in how this updated version performed against the original version. We have no way of knowing which one the AOC will perform like, or if it will be better or worse. It will use the same panel I imagine, but that's only one element as we've seen here.

As far as retail samples go, the initial sample was the foreign model as it wasn't out in the USA, and then the USA launch was delayed until the issues were fixed, so there was no possible way to get a review unit at a store. It also is cost prohibitive to impossible to buy samples, and with as many issues as every reviewer manages to find with the review samples, believe me, if there's an issue in the product, we're almost certainly going to find it no matter what sample we get.Reply

Of course it doesn't have any effect on performance or what you found, I'm not impugning either you or your results. But let's face it, corporations exist to generate revenue, LG wants to sell monitors. What better way to sell them than to get positive reviews? Why is it startling to suggest that they may tweak a piece of hardware in order to get one?Reply

My question is how this review would be different than any other review then? Every display I've reviewed for AnandTech, aside from the iPhone 5 I bought myself, has been shipped from a company or a PR firm.

I'm well aware of the fact that monitors could be sent that are ideal units, and so I attempt to read feedback from people that already own them on forums often to see what issues might exist to look for. To me, this unit is no more likely to be extra special than any other unit that comes in for review.

Look at every other review that I've written, positive or negative, and see how many other companies have followed up to find out what they can do to improve their performance and then attempted to do so. Even when I've received feedback, it's been nothing close to this, and typically more defensive than actually inquisitive about how to improve performance.

I'm certain someone else out there will buy a unit and test it and see if they match up. If they have a huge variance between them, then we can start to look into it more.Reply

Not realizing or remembering that this is a followup article, and then reading the first few sentences, I was sooo close to just moving along and not waste my time reading a review of what I assumed was an absolutely horrible product.

I believe Anand usually puts some clue in the title of the review if there has been a major change in the product. This is not just a good idea for your readers, but also for yourself after spending so much time on this (you want people to read it, yes?), and LG for going above and beyond in getting this monitor right, which is extremely rare these days.Reply

Just to clarify, that was all on the homepage, before clicking on the review. I only clicked on the review as the last tiny little paragraph, tucked in below the image, gave a clue that it may be worth a read. That last paragraph should go up top.Reply

Same here, I almost stopped reading after about two sentences. The only reason I continued was because I believed down to earth there had to be a "but" in there somewhere, nobody could actually start a review and just say "it's bad" and be done with it :).Reply

I actually liked the way it was done - it set the stage well. I actually think the first few sentences do a good job of piquing one's curiosity, for exactly the reasons inighthawki stated. I wouldn't have changed it. To each their own. :)Reply

Right on, this is exactly how I felt. The title and first few words in this article almost caused me to not read thinking it was a bad product... subsequently it turned out it's actually a really good display.Reply

Ya, the entire opening of this article made it sound like the first review was a disaster of a product. I went back to read it and it was actually a mixed, leaning positive review of the 1.09 version. And this is the much improved version.

Does anyone know detailed documentations of how to perform these calibration and tests? I just searched a bit, and the CalMAN software/tool doesn't seem to be expensive. I'd love to get a hold of it so that I can calibrate my own monitors.

I've been long aware that many monitors look so awful without calibration, but without a good workflow, I was just messing around until I am comfortable with what I saw...Reply

It's not so much about the software but the hardware , you can try to rent or find a store that calibrates screens for cheap or at the very least try the ICC profiles on TFT Central.,if they have one for your screen.Reply

The PC portion of CalMAN is still in an Open Beta, which is why the uniformity numbers aren't taken from CalMAN. I can export all of the data to use, but I can't have it generate the charts for me the way that I want them yet.

The real cost is hardware. As mentioned in the LG Calibration Hardware review, I'm using an i1Pro ($900 or so), a SpectraCal C6 ($700), and CalMAN ($400 or so for this package). You can get decent results with a cheaper meter, but it can also be hit-and-miss depending on the display. Most PC calibration is fairly automated, it's video displays that take a lot more work to get right.

CalMAN has a free download available I believe. It only uses a simulated meter, so you can't take actual measurements, but you could get that and then the open beta of the PC Calibration Workflow on their forums and see how it works.Reply

Both revisions of LG use the exact same panel, it's the QC and firmware that have been updated. I don't believe any electronics changed, but there is a possibility, but the panel is the exact same thing. It's a good reason why you can't look at two displays, see they use the same panel, and assume they'll be anything alike.Reply

They didn't re-engineer a panel for me, they went back and redid the firmware for everyone and then provided a new model once that was complete. Anyone can buy the same version that I received, and anyone with an older revision of firmware can contact LG to get an upgrade to version 1.25 from them.Reply

I love to see someone, anyone pushing the state of the computer display industry. I'll pay a premium for anything that gives me more than 1080p which was a step back when it came out. If I recall this monitor doesn't rotate into portrait mode which is my only remaining wish. Of course, given it's dimensions, I might not want it to rotate, any thoughts on this?Reply

The included stand doesn't rotate, but it does have VESA mounting screws to do that. If it was rotated, it would be very, very tall on a desk. It really depends on what you'd want to do with the space for how well that works, but our field of view is typically much wider than tall, so to me, that layout might not work quite as well.Reply

I'm not that interested in Ultra Widescreen monitors (16:10 person) but the response from LG after the initial review certainly improved my opinion of them. A cheap TV I randomly picked up before turned out to be the best I've ever used so they already had a rather high standing and it seems that one wasn't just a fluke.Reply

Im extremly interested in this monitor and I have the finger on the trigger but my question is will there be 2 version floating around? Will LG release the monitor with a visible "version 1.25" in the description or is it a total lottery if you get the new version or the old?Reply

Not saying you need to purchase every item you review at retail, but I do think that it's kind of weird that they brought you a monitor with the specific purpose of changing a prior review. It's one thing to be shipped something for review when it's first released, it's another when the company says it's unhappy with that review, asks exactly what can be done to improve the review, and then provides you with a specific unit that is meant to change your opinions in the prior review. Reply

I have to believe that LG wouldn't be stupid enough to send a special unit that is different than what they will be selling to the public. If that happened I know they would get caught and it would be the last time A LOT of users bought anything from them! I just don't see them going through all the trouble just to ruin their brand name in the end. I will definitely be paying attention to this model in the future.I do agree that LG needs to either differentiate this upgraded model from the original or offer the original model buyers an upgrade.Reply

But how will the public know their monitor is different from the reviewed one? Almost no one has the equipment, the time and the knowledge to replicate this testing on their home unit. I go and buy one and I assume it's working like the review said it was, but I have no data to support that assumption. And once I spend the money I'm certainly going to have a healthy dose of confirmation bias that tells me my monitor really is fabulous, because the review at Anandtech told me it is.Reply

Don't know if they'll read this far into the comments, but thanks, LG. It's awesome for a company to take the negative feedback and use it to improve their product before releasing it. This monitor's now on my radar.Reply

Thank you for the most useful and insightful review. Do you think you would be able to review the new ASUS MX299Q which is sold at a significantly lower price point ($599) than the LG29EA93? That would be tremendously helpful in determining which one to buy.Reply

It makes absolutely no sense to me that LG would sell a home calibration kit (that only works with one particular model of monitor) for $100-$150. For that money, why wouldn't LG calibrate the display at the factory? That would save me the hassle of doing the calibration myself and LG wouldn't have to stock, ship and support the calibration kit, which I would only need once or twice in my lifetime.

I have some experience doing display calibration, and my next monitor purchase will be a factory calibrated Dell (if I had a Mac it would be a factory calibrated Apple display). For those interested, the process of calibrating my Samsung TV consisted of buying the colorimiter for $150, finding and burning a BluRay of the test patterns (need a BlyRay burner for this), downloading the calibration software, and then figuring out what all the terms mean and how to do the calibration. Unfortunately, display calibration is highly iterative as changing one setting often upsets others. Plus the calibration is never perfect, so you are constantly trading one parameter for another - hoping to maximize as many parameters as possible. In the end, I was able to achieve a very good result, and this saved me from returning the TV (I was very disappointed in the color accuracy before calibration), but I spent three days figuring out what I was doing and then iterating a number of times - Like I said earlier, I would gladly pay $100 to be able to take the display out of the box and use it knowing the factory achieved an acceptable baseline. I assume LG's product is much more of a point and click affair then what I used, but that would mean it would be that much easier for them to do in house. They could even have a separate SKU for those willing to pay more for factory calibration.Reply

Calibration is dependent on the device outputting the video signal. You could calibrate your TV perfectly for your bluray player, but have it completely miss the spot when connecting your xbox (or whatever). That's why each input will have its own settings on a "sane" TV.

You can go back and read some of my comments about the meter and how they likely build in profiles to account for the spectral signature of the LED backlighting.

With a $100 colorimeter, like the i1Display2 or a Spyder, the simple fact is they are decent at what they do, but they drift relatively fast, and they work best on CCFL or CRT based displays. LED based LCDs and other lighting systems typically don't work well on them. The issue is that when using software to do the calibration, neither one of those items knows if the meter is reading correctly or incorrectly. Without verification by a spectrometer, you'd have no idea.

The human eye is also very adaptable to what we see in front of us, and we adjust very fast. Whatever the brightest white is, we take that to be pure white and adjust from that. If a display is 9300K or 4500K instead of 6500K, I can typically spot that. If it's 6200K or 6800K and there is no 6500K reference in the room, your eye is going to adapt to that being correct.

If they can program their meter to work better with their displays than the XRite or Datacolor solutions, and sell it for less, then for many people it's going to work fine. Calibrating at the factory adds time and money that many people don't care about unfortunately. For people like myself, we might pay the extra $100 for it, but for many people that $100 would mean they buy a different display. Multiple SKUs also make vendors and dealers unhappy, as it's more inventory to track and they'd rather just carry a calibration device.Reply

I want to thank AnandTech for being one of a few websites that check greyscale and color performance of displays - this site does an outstanding and thorough job. However, I agree with many other posters who believe this follow up test should be of a retail unit.

As I understand it, some manager at LG read your previous review and then ordered his engineers to improve the display and have it retested. As an engineer who worked in a large corporation for many years, it is unthinkable to me that LG would pull a display off the assembly line and send it to you without first verifying it's performance. It would be a great way for the person given the task of improving the display to get fired if the second review does not live up to whatever goals LG management had. My hunch is that they either pulled a number of samples off the line, checked their performance and sent the best one, or took a random unit and then tweaked it to achieve the performance goals they were after.

While it may be cost prohibitive to purchase every device tested on this site, this is clearly a case where the lack of a store bought sample casts doubt on the validity of the results.Reply

I would be very suspicious of any piece of hardware delivered for review with an company engineer. I suggest re-evaluating the monitor using a retail version. It is all too easy (and tempting) for the company to deliver a piece of hardware that has been screened and tweeked by the gift bearer!Reply

Since there seems to be a lot of feedback from those worried about the fact that LG provided a new sample that tested well, I decided to add some more comments about the matter, and clear some things up.

- The first sample was also hand delivered by LG to me. Every monitor sample I have had has been from a PR company or a company directly, and none of them have been bought by myself. - If it was so easy or even possible to hand-tune a sample to have the performance offered by Rev. 1.25 of the 29EA93, then wouldn't we expect every monitor that comes in for review to be that good? As it is, samples arrive that perform good and bad. You can look at the Acer monitor that was just reviewed to see it had issues (I had to manually loosen a screw to get the stand to work correctly, which they said would be fixed) and wasn't hand-tuned. - You can also look at my Nixeus sample that had a brightness control issue, or many other display reviews that have been published. If it was so easy to game the system, every vendor would do it. - Buying samples just isn't realistic. Most displays arrive for 30 days at most before going back to a company. Many arrive well before the street date so that reviews can be completed and published on the release date. This isn't possible if you need to purchase units, besides being cost prohibitive. Yes, some places would let me return them, but I have ethical issues about buying something I know I'll return, and then they will have to sell at a discount.

If I thought what LG was doing was in any way biasing my coverage, I wouldn't do it, but what they have done as far as providing samples is no different than any other company. What is different is their taking feedback and using it in a positive way, whereas many other vendors might try to deny the findings or just cut off communications, both of which have happened to me before. Being skeptical is fine, but I find no reason to think that LG wanted to anything else other than make a better product than they initially released, and providing the display to me is not different from the normal review process in any way at all.Reply

Chris, LG should provide some of us a clear route to firmware upgrades that have purchased their displays. That I think is the chief concern among many of us that are concerned about buying an older version. If they were to release the updated firmware on their website in a reasonable time frame (say 1 month from now) with an easy path to upgrade, then nobody would be worried. As it is now, there is no way to differentiate between the older and newer model. This isn't limited to this model either, the LG 27EA83-D has the same problem. A korean website (www.playwares.com) was hand delivered a tuned unit and their lag tests were phenomenal. Unfortunately, I'm one of the people that already owns the 27EA83-D and would hate to be left out in the cold w/an early firmware. LG has a responsibility to clarify and rectify this situation for its customers. Reply

I mean does it only support the optimal 2560x1080 at this ratio or does it have something equivalent in the area of 1920x800 or even lower. My machine won't be able to do 2560x1080 on all my games, so I want to know if I'd be able to fall back on lower res but still get the same ratio.

When calibrating for TV/Blu-ray/non-PC video, 16 is video black and 235 is video white, as opposed to 0 and 255 with PC content. The monitor shouldn't expand this, so you're calibrating to a smaller range. You can find some devices that will expand video content to the full RGB range (often labeled as RGB Full) that would then use the 0-255 range. For standard video content you only use a subset of that, so you'll have less dynamic range compared to PC.

The PC mode was certainly bluish, with a higher color temperature, with fewer adjustments available in order to remove processing lag.Reply

That's odd. I'd expect monitors in "TV mode" to expand 16-235/240 to 0-255, just like decent PC software players/decoders. Or maybe whatever feeds the video should do that. Or more like, either one, depending on the settings you select.

You really don't want this, as while content above 235 is technically not support to exist, some does in the form of specular highlights and other very bright items. Displays or sources that automatically clip this WTW material are possibly losing some image information and shouldn't work that way.Reply

I don't want to be a dick, but the colors used in the bar charts are truly horrible --- the kind of colors that look like they are bleeding out of the bars.

Please revert to the colors you used to use, or ask a designer to choose new colors (or just copy them from any piece of software that has already thought about this issue, eg the default colors used in bar graphs by Mathematica or Numbers).Reply

I saw the same thing so I went to the Fry's by my place that said that had it in stock. The display model had a manufacturing date of Dec 2012 and Rev00 so I'm guessing it's the old one. My bet is the ones they are selling are older since no one else seems to have it in stock.

I'll admit looking at the display model I was surprised how small it looked. For as long as it is, the height of the monitor reminds me a 21 or 22 inch monitor.Reply

"Disabling the game mode only introduced another 1-2ms of lag, but at the expense of image quality, so I would leave it disabled."

Hmm...

I'm guessing you meant something like:

"Enabling the game mode shaved off another 1-2ms of lag, but at the expense of image quality, so I would leave it disabled."

Regardless, what is this "Game mode" what what exactly does it do to the image quality?

The rest of the article was brilliant, so much detail and careful measurement. Then in one line you toss in this randomly subjective opinion and don't even qualify it when an explanation - I feel totally trolled right now.Reply

As others here have probably pointed out, a monitor like this has the potential to vastly improve the field of view in games, especially with some titles that may already have widescreen or multi-monitor enhancements. The images posted up comparing in-game screenshots were nice (thanks for going into that trouble), but perhaps a video demonstrating how things change on a monitor of this size would be better?

For example, playing third-person games would enable a larger field of view but how does this affect the first-person perspective? Racing games all too often stretch the sides of the car when you're playing in cockpit view and the image becomes warped when playing in a multi-monitor environment. Would this screen give RTS players some advantage? Starcraft 2 can run on a MBP with the Retina display at native resolution. As a gamer myself, resolution becomes pretty important and I'm tired of 1920x1080. My only options are sinking cash into a 27" Korean monitor, a 30" monster, or something like this, which isn't that much larger but may be more beneficial. Reply

I don't add calibrated settings for a reason: They're specific to that display, and that one only. The level of tolerances on a consumer panel is high enough that just plugging in the settings from someone is no guarantee that the image will be better or worse, just different. And since it can be just as easily worse as opposed to better, I don't provide them. Otherwise I know it will result in many people getting those settings from somewhere else, or without a disclaimer like this, using them, and then posting "The AnandTech settings made my display worse, they have no idea what they're talking about".

If the display has a mode that is more accurate, I typically mention which one I used for calibration so everyone could use that specific mode, buy beyond that and adjustments are just as likely to make a display worse as better.Reply

Hi,This is my first post, but I have been reading your site for years now.Thank you for all your great work!

Response times: in your 1.25 review, you state that RT's have been tested at 1080p resolution because of some CRT limitations. Could you please iron this out for me?I am a hardcore FPS gamer, and am out shopping for the fastest 27-30 monitor out there! This would be very interesting because of it's huge landscape, but lag is a no no!Reply

So I noticed that now Newegg and Microcenter are carrying this monitor. There's a guy on the HardOCP forums that bought one and is doing a review. The picture he took of the back shows a manufacturer date of January 2013, but a rev00. I know they weren't released in the US officially so for all I know rev00 is the 1.25 here, but seems kinda risky to buy without knowing for sure. Reply

I purchased this monitor from South Korea arrived with build date Dec 2012 Rev 00 shockingly poor panel over 30 stuck/dead/live pixels. This month I purchased one from Frys again build date Dec 2012 Rev 00, then one from MicroCenter yet again build date Dec 2012 Rev 00. The money I have lost in shipping and restocking fees is now a joke. Currently awaiting one I ordered from Newegg arrives 03/22/13 their website photos show build Feb 2013 Rev 01, so how do we know if this is revision 1.09 or 1.25. After several conversations with LG USA they posted the comment below on Neweggs website, how can you truly tell what revision you have when it's not labeled clearly and manufacturer just says it's revision 1.25 are we to take their word? If anyone has any idea how to identify which revision other than sticker on rear of panel? An LG USA have been very clear they will NOT update older revisions to their knowledge they don't even have the means to do so.

Manufacturer Response:1. The older version is neither defective nor low quality. It was just a running change to update the firmwareto newer versions (like is done with other electronics).

2. Currently, there hasn’t been any game resolution support issues reported for this model. Please contact us withany issues you find so we can test. Our previous internal testing did not find any resolution support issues forany games. Also, Software version is not related to resolution support and different versions do not effect abilityto support full 2560 x 1080 resolution.

Received new monitor today from newegg and the manufatures response is incorrect, newegg are selling revision 00. So some people get the new revision and others like me yet again get the old one. This will now be my fifth monitor, will I ever get the new revision. Is it accurate that rev 00 is really 1.09 and rev 01 is 1.25?Reply

Your guess is as good as mine. I picked up an LG 27EA83-D from Fry's which just recently received a firmware update of its own with similar results as the panel you bought. However mine was manufactured in Jan 2013 and is Rev 00. I wrote LG USA about it and they had no clue (surprise surprise). So right now I'm trying to get a hold of someone in Korea that can provide firm answers. Otherwise as much as I love this display, it might go back to Fry's. Reply

1.09 / 1.25what do i have?the same in germany.A) isnt there a way to find out which revision do you really have? maybe with powerstip on the DDC data?B) is a simple Firmware Update (like on CDRW drives) possible, or is this thought technical not logical?Reply

To get the service menu up, first switch off the monitor, then while holding down the menu key simultaneously press and hold the power button, keep holding both buttons until the monitor powers up then release them. Press the menu button once and up pops the menu. To revert back to the OSD menu, turn the monitor off then back on again.Reply

I asked dustinhome if they knew what revision they had for sale. Got this answer: " ...there is new firmwares released now and then. And there shouldn’t be any other difference than the firmware between these revisions, if there is something wrong with the firmware in a product then the customer can contact LG and they will decide if a firmware upgrade can solve the problem. For this product it isn’t possible to upgrade the firmware as a user, it needs to be done by LG Service. And we don’t get any information about which revision we get delivered, since it is delivered on the same part number."Reply

Just bought a LG 29EA93-P from Fry's this week (San Jose CA). Mgr date is Feb 13 2013 Rev-01 which is version 1.25. The way to verify is to Hold the power & Menu button's together and you will see the version number on the top left corner! Once calibrated the best monitor to date! Great for games, movies & editing photos. Reply

I bought this led monitor because of this new update on the monitor . im am so happy you did this review because it made my decision to buy!! i also got the new revision model 1.25 and bought it off newegg at $540 total they had a special . Thanks anandtech!!Reply

Why does the review author continue to be evasive regarding identification of units shipping with the tested firmware revision? Just review a damned retail unit and restore the reputation of AnandTech as a legitimate reviewer. Otherwise this whole review is just a joke. Chris has basically reviewed a mythical, maybe never to be released, one-off that may or may not bear any resemblance to a display of the same name which is available for sale. If I reviewed a Chevrolet stock car as representative of a showroom model you'd laugh me off the web. Joke.Reply

Any idea if the LG 29EB93-P has these updates as well? I'm trying to decide between the LG 29EA93 and the 29EB93-P I would much prefer the nice stand and more professional look of the 29EB93-P but not at the loss of these nessesary updates.Reply

It's a good screen but another way of looking at it is not that it's ultra-wide but that it's ultra-cropped - sadly my old Apple Cinema 30inch display failed and I go this one to replace - loosing about 1/4 of the screen size.

Some really frustrating things you need to know - there is no display port cable in the box. That is really bad because, LG, the money I use to pay you comes from being productive and I lost a day of editing while I figured out that I needed the cable and ordered off Amazon. Additionally I was really confused about not being able to get the full resolution on the VGA connection until I worked out that without a 'display port' cable you will not get the full resolution. Also your graphics card will also need to support the higher resolution sizes and even then it may not fit exactly and you will need secondary software to tweak. That might all be obvious to the computer nerds who make these things but its not to the average end user.

Also the 'really clever cardboard box' quoted by Chris (Chris Heinonen ) was absent - instead the usual polystyrene menace - so I think Chris you were a bit duped at times by LG. In addition there was a strong formaldehyde plastic small from the new monitor - not good in a bedroom, but soon became undetectable.

There was also a dead pixel - never had that with any of the Mac screens I use (I have five).

Despite all that I like it - mainly because the lower height allows me to look out of the window behind and day dream instead of doing my work!Reply

just came by to thank you: this was an excellent review and instrumental in my purchase.

One thing to add: I wasn't very impressed by the black levels (although I've yet to calibrate it properly) and the device does a remarkable job at looking both too small and enormous at the same time (by my calculations there's only a little between this and a 32" TV with 21:9 content). Reply

Has anyone seen benchmarks on the 29EA73 or 29EB73 coming out next week? Did they carry over the improvements from this model? It is being released at a lower price point and I am trying to determine where the compromises were made. Newegg has it on pre-order for 499 with a $50 store credit gift card.Reply